riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: sampremi
when: The month of March.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: there will likely be nsfw content; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

sampremi

In the days leading up to March 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Sampremi. This is one of Riverview's four yearly celebrations of love, this one focused on sexual love and lust, and sexual relationships that might bloom into more (or not). Traditions associated with Sampremi are a roving street market, raves where residents can seek out some free love and get a little crazy, a massive week-long kink convention, and a tech expo with all-ages and adult options.

a celebration of sexual love and lust

Riverview has always been a place focused on love and building connections in order to foster community, and for a lot of people, sex is part of that, which makes it something worth celebrating! For people who use sex as a way to connect with others, even if only for a short time, or those who use it as a way to connect on a deeper level with the ones they already love, Sampremi is the perfect holiday to get their freak on in a host of new and exciting or comfortable and familiar ways. The holiday features a large kink convention, where various entities in the city can show off their toys, explain their niche kinks, and share their insights with anyone who might be interested, a series of raves that are both all-ages and adult where residents can find someone(s) to share a night (or a week, a few months, or even a life) with. This year, there is a large tech expo where cutting edge tech companies in the city are sharing their newest toys, like improved virtual reality, robotics advances, and many other types of toys - all for work, play, or, in the spirit of the holiday, pleasure. And for those who don't want to connect through sex or who aren't old enough to, there are dances, games, and an entire market full of street food that's meant for sharing, so they can connect in other ways.

● OOC NOTE: Please be sure to warn in subject lines for any threads involving sexual content, drug use or other content that fellow players may wish to avoid, and do not use the prompt mechanics to circumvent consent in your threads, as non-consensual sex is not permitted on the game communities. Items such as aphrodisiacs, VR, or party drugs mentioned in the prompts are intended to facilitate consensual sex, not to encourage sexual assault, or to 'trick' characters into having sex that they would not normally have. ICly, please remember that there is always security to intervene and make sure everyone is safe.

i. color raves

Advertised on flyers and digital screens around the city, made to pop as if they were under blacklight, is a series of what's called "color raves" that are happening in various large empty warehouse spaces around the city. They are called color raves for the bright colorful lights, the preponderance of glowsticks that attendees wave around, and for the brightly colored powder for attendees to play with, some of which is spiked with a mild party drug and some of which is just for fun (with the difference clearly marked, of course). There are three types of color rave - adult, all-ages, and youth raves.

(CW: DRUG USE) At each adult rave and all-ages rave there is one specific room where attendees can enter (after proving themselves 18+), and dance or play tag with brightly colored powder that contains small amounts of a legal party drug commonly available in Riverview, which is absorbed through the skin. Not much more intoxicating than having a few beers, the effects of the drug are a pleasant low-key buzzing euphoria, positive sensitivity to touch, a heightening of desires for intimacy, and a mild lowering of inhibitions. Once a character has been hit with the powder, the color lingers on the skin so other attendees can know who has partaken, but once the powder makes contact with a surface (whether it is skin, clothing, or structural) it deactivates, meaning that partakers can safely dance with non-partakers without sharing the intoxicating effects.

Adult raves will have bouncers at the door to ensure that anyone entering is 18+, and there is no limit to when and where the debauchery happens. Clothing is optional, showing skin is encouraged, and there are a lot of neatly tucked away spaces for attendees to get some time alone with one or more than one person, as well as spaces intended for orgies. The atmosphere is sex-positive and non-judgemental, open to any orientation or preference, with various forms of protection available for free, however, to ensure that everyone plays safe there are sober security teams out en masse at all premises to oversee the events.

All-ages raves are open to anyone who wishes to attend, regardless of age. There are bouncers at the door who will check ID and stamp the hand of anyone who is 18+ with a special ink that shows up under blacklight for easy identification. At all-ages raves, 18+ and underage characters can mingle, but there are specific areas set aside for only 18+ characters where they can get down and dirty either in private or the open.

Adult and all-ages raves will have only spiked powder to avoid confusion.

Youth raves are intended only for younger characters under 18, so they can stay up all night and dance like crazy, and meet other young people in the city. The legal drinking age in Riverview Quarantine is 14, and so anyone over 14 can enter and indulge in a few drinks, dancing, and playing tag with a version of the colored powder featured at the adult raves that won't give you anything but a sugar high. There is copious amounts of security on site to ensure that everyone is safe, as well as nurses and off-duty police officers to offer advice or care for anyone who overindulges out of lack of experience. Youth raves will have only sugar powder, brightly colored and sweet to the taste, meant for fun and to play tag with rather than to cause intoxication.

ii. kink convention

For the week of March 4-10 there will be a massive kink convention on the top floor of one of the large exhibition centers downtown, limited to characters 18+. The exhibition is a sexy adult informational convention featuring various kinks and fetishes. Whether you're into leather, latex, lace, or anything else, you'll be able to find the clothes, toys, guides, books, erotica, fiction, and a wide variety of other interesting stuff to explore. While the atmosphere is sex-positive and there are private and public (for the voyeurs and exhibitionists in the room) venues for having sex, it's definitely focused on exploration and information about different stuff to try.

If someone has thought of it and figured it sounded sexy, it can be found here, and with Riverview's high level of tech advancement and widespread acceptance of magic, things can get pretty kinky. Whatever your kink is, there's probably a VR program, sex toy, potion, or spell that can make it happen, and someone who's got the downlow on how to make it great.

iii. tech expo

Riverview prides itself on its technological advancement, and so, running concurrently with the Kink Convention on March 4-10 and on the bottom floor of the same convention center, various cutting-edge tech companies in the city will be sponsoring a Tech Expo. The expo features demonstrations of all of the most advanced technology that's coming into use in the city, ranging from advancements in VR and holotech to robotics and gadgets, you can find the latest and greatest in almost any area of modern technology. Attendees will be able to come with a friend or a date or anything in between to play VR games, enjoy holoprojected escape rooms and puzzles, meet robot pets, try out the most recent music player or that new cell phone that can bend without breaking, and a wide variety of other gadgets.

While most of the tech expo is all-ages and non-sexual, there is a decently-sized adult area where characters must show ID proving they are 18+ in order to enter, where the technology is mostly related to sexual use. This area features advanced sex toys, VR systems intended to explore sex with other people in a virtual environment with no strings attached, sexy video games and holoprograms, and many other sensual technological.

iv. street market

One of the major draws of the festival is the special street food that can only be obtained this time of year. Almost everything you can buy at the Sampremi Festival is meant to be shared - whether it's one piece of meat on two or more sticks or desserts baked with a narrow part in the middle for convenient tearing, everything is built to be shared. The stalls sell everything from cups of soup, sandwiches, roasted or fried meat, deep-fried vegetables and cakes, dumplings, donuts, bagels, turnovers, and anything else you can think of.

Many of the savory dishes are based on the meat of a particular fowl native to the moon Riverview is situated on that has a taste and texture halfway between chicken and duck, cooked to be spicy (ranging from very mild to throat-burning). Many of the desserts are based around a fruit native to the moon that is spherical, red-orange, and has a light sweet taste that is similar to a combination of mango, pineapple, and strawberry. Both ingredients are considered to be aphrodisiacs. Of course, the foods aren't actually aphrodisiacs and any effect is purely placebo, though there are some booths (clearly marked and with someone to check ID) that sell actual aphrodisiac-laced foods and drinks to people who are 18+.

The festival features an entire row of fair games ranging from very high-tech games featuring virtual reality and neon holograms to extremely old-fashioned games with darts and balloons or balls and glasses. The games all have prizes in various shapes and sizes, with the standard stuffed animals, but also with goods and special items donated by any business in the city; ranging from tiny prizes to huge and expensive ones. Due to the nature of the holiday, many of the stalls are set up to cater to winning a prize for your partner(s), and due to the nature of the Quarantine, a lot of them involve aiming or other aspects of pretending to fight.

Originally, the part of the street festival that involved an actual market, with stalls and booths set up with goods, was aimed primarily at romantic trinkets like flowers or jewelry, gifts intended to be purchased for a loved one. As time has gone by, however, this aspect of the market has increased, with many businesses participating, though the emphasis is still on small businesses and anything relating to local culture rather than booths for any of the larger more corporate businesses. There is still plenty of jewelry to be found, for sure, mostly handmade and artisan, but the scope of the Market has widened immeasurably. The Sampremi Market is an excellent place to find specialty foods, clothing, jewelry, art, or other goods that were originally native to cultures on other planets in this reality, or other realities altogether. Many residents in the city use the market to share their unique cultural goods and traditional dress with others.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Sampremi, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: saber XU; image ii: Jose Borges; image iii: Nicolas Sitbon; image iv: Andreas Rocha

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[At first, it's the puzzles themselves and how the technology behind them works that holds Makoto's attention. Soon, however, she's much more caught up in watching a woman who seems to be blitzing through the puzzles while barely breaking a sweat - quick enough that Makoto barely has time to work them through for herself and yet she can't even bring herself to mind.

That one short comment snaps Makoto back to a sort of reality, in that she figures she probably can't have spent this long watching someone without at least offering a degree of conversation.]

You do look like you're really enjoying it. I don't think I've seen someone solve puzzles so quickly.

My father taught me to pay attention to details.

[ also she's been forging imperial documents since she was, like, twelve, so it's kind of her thing. but games with galen all had something of stem slant, even her toddler doodles had math like formulas drawn around the edge like a frame. ]

I like puzzles.

Seems like he was a good teacher.

[And it's something Makoto can empathise with. Even if he hasn't been present her entire life, in the time he was alive her father did a lot to contribute to the person Makoto is today.]

Still, I've never seen anything quite like this. It's impressive what they've managed to achieve here.

Yeah. I've seen some of it before but...

[ her shoulders lift in a shrug as she straightens up, waving off the next puzzle. she's used to basic technology, but she's learned that her basic technology is sometimes far beyond other people's idea of basic technology.

(and sometimes incredibly inferior.) ]

You have? Guess wherever you're from is a little way ahead of what I know, then.

[It's also possible she'd simply never come across anything like this, but she likes to think she's aware enough to have noticed something like that even if she isn't as into tech as Futaba (and she can't say she isn't a little reminded of Necronomicon with how this technology works).]

Or is it just that you've been here long enough to get used to this kind of thing?

Maybe both? These are much better here -- [ she drags her phone out of her pocket as her example. ] But some of the ships we have seem more advanced.

[ and then of course they all probably pale in comparison to jim kirk's ships. ]

So that's what your world was more focused on? Ships, I mean.

[That was the logical conclusion for Makoto to draw, at least. Technology often developed based on necessity, after all.]

Have to be for interplanetary travel.

[ so casual. jyn is still mind-boggled at these basic planetary systems still confined to one home planet. poor lambs. ]

[And speaking of poor lambs, Makoto needs a moment to process that idea.]

Then...that's pretty standard for you? Has that...I mean, do you remember it ever being any different?

[She's not really sure how much she can glean if not but either way, she can't help but be intrigued. Closest she's come to space travel is the Metaverse and she's not in a hurry to repeat that trip.]

Not for... millennias. [ it's always been like that as far as she knows. she never cared to learn the history that far back and since she was the one choosing her education, let's just say jyn is lacking in the humanities.

whoops. ]

How else would be move around the galaxy?

I guess...I mean, you have a point.

[Makoto can at least not deny that much. It's just a little harder to take for granted when it's not something she's ever known.]

I suppose it's like anything we've always known, it's hard to imagine a time when it didn't exist.

[Nothing in her world rates on the level of galactic travel but at least on a mundane level, Makoto can appreciate the idea.]

Exactly. [ jyn doesn't mean to be dismissive of how cool space travel is, she just honestly doesn't get it. on top of not actually feeling the allure of flying because she doesn't get that whole rush she's been told about. ]

Is there magic where you are from?

[ because that shit is new and fascinating to jyn because it does not make sense. ]

[The question about magic gives Makoto pause, and for a moment she's glad there's something else providing some distraction so that maybe it won't be quite so obvious.]

I guess there kind of is? It's not a common thing, and a lot of people who know anything about it would argue it's more science than magic. Whether that's true or just a way of trying to make sense of it all, I wouldn't know.

Are science and magic similar enough to be interchangeable?

[ cool? she supposes that technology could be considered magic if it was far ahead of it's time. whatever brought her and cassian back from the dead is magic enough for her. ]

In this case, possibly? I really don't know all that much about it and most people you'd mention magic too back home would think of sleight-of-hand magic tricks rather than anything truly magical.

[After all, most people who know about cognitive pscience don't really talk openly about it so even after all that happened towards the end, Makoto's not sure most normal people would accept magic as a real concept.]

Makes sense, [ jyn agrees with a nod. if you mentioned magic around some of the planets she's been to, it's simply a fairy tale, the jedi stuff of seemingly fictional legend already. ]

It's a lot more... present, here.

I'm noticing that. At least, it's something people seem to talk about more openly.

[But she's sensing a commonality here, at least.]

Can I take it you don't have magic back home at all?

There are stories, of people that can... manipulate the Force. But they're all gone now so it's nothing more than fairy tales.

[ a shrug, it is what it is. ]

Hmm. Makes me wonder if that's how it always is, that the fairy tales now are reflections of what used to be. I always figured it was just people with good imaginations.

[She's still not wholly convinced that isn't the case but on the other hand, the Metaverse exists, or at least did before they defeated the one controlling it all.]

The Jedi, in my galaxy, were exterminated when I was a baby and they still don't seem real.

[ they certainly couldn't save themselves and that seems dumb. besides that: ]

And there's regular people who are just as capable without fancy magic or whatever.

So then maybe that's the same with other things. I suppose most people don't really think about whether it's real or not, so long as they get something from it.

[And care even less if they don't. Still, as an avid reader, it's something Makoto can't help but consider from time to time, where that line is between fiction and history.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

tech expo

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject